Conventional poultry watering systems include a series of connected water dispensing lines, a plurality of interconnected valves connected to one or more low pressure water supply lines, fed by one or more potable water sources. The potable water supply is typically provided to a poultry or broiler house (“facility”) at a pressure much greater than the intended or necessary operating pressure of the water pressure regulators and at a much greater pressure than is desired at each drinker nipple accessible to the poultry. In the past, this has conventionally required that one or more water pressure regulators be used to adjust the water pressure at the drinker nipples used by the flock to obtain water. Furthermore, it is often required that the operating pressure for the drinker nipples be varied throughout the growth period of the poultry flock to allow for the greatest efficiency of use of water by the flock. For example, too little water to the flock decreases the flock growth performance while excess water can lead to poor litter conditions, which can adversely affect the health of the flock. Furthermore, if the system fails and the birds are deprived of water, within a short period of time, the flock will die. This is a huge loss of investment for the growers and integrators and must be avoided. This requires that safeguards be in place to prevent system failure, or at a minimum, in the event of a failure, alert the grower in a timely manner so that action can be taken.
Conventionally, controlling the amount of water and water pressure to a poultry watering system is handled manually by an operator in the facility—at each individual watering valve. However, manual operation and adjustment of each individual water pressure regulator used to control the water supply to the poultry drinker lines is not efficient and can lead to over or under watering of the flock. Hydraulic air pressure control systems and systems utilizing proportional valves have been developed and are used in the industry, but these systems tend to be inconsistent in operation, overly complex, expensive to own and operate, difficult to install and calibrate, and require continued maintenance and adjustment for reliable operation.
For these and many other reasons, there is a need in the industry to be able to vary the operating pressure of the water supply system feeding the drinker lines consistently, efficiently, and inexpensively while reducing the complexity of the system. It is also desirable to be able to retrofit existing watering systems with minimal effort and at low cost. Siphon systems have not been used in the past in this industry or for this purpose because they are typically fragile in nature and require constant monitoring.
It would be advantageous to be able to control the water pressure supplied to poultry drinker systems remotely and/or automatically through use of a self-balancing gravity-fed water supply system utilizing a mechanically or electrically-controlled water supply, a Water Conduit system operating at low pressures, and having a system for removing entrapped air from the conduit system to prevent the system from losing water pressure and further to eliminate the need for having a facility operator manually calibrate and adjust the water pressure at a plurality of drinker lines and drinker line regulator in the facility. Preferably, it would be desirable for such pressure adjusting systems to be controlled either (i) with feedback from an electrical water pressure feedback device—in the form of a closed-loop system, or (ii) without a feedback device—in the form of an open-loop system. Preferably, either of these control configurations would be commanded through the use of one or more manual user interfaces and/or through an electronic interface.
Although a “facility” has been described above and will generally be used interchangeably hereinafter to refer to a poultry house, it will be understood by those of skill in the art that any facility that waters animals, and that requires water pressure regulators to control or limit the water pressure of the water supplied to the drinking nipples, as compared to the water pressure coming into the facility, can make effective use of the systems, techniques, technologies, devices, and processes described herein. Such facilities include, but are not limited to, poultry broiler, breeder, pullet, or egg laying houses.
The present invention meets one or more of the above-referenced needs as described herein below in greater detail.